UN report affirms south Sudan harbouring of Sudan rebels

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday hailed as impartial and balanced a recent UN report that blames Juba for harboring rebels from Darfur region and allowing them to establish military bases in South Sudan. The report affirms that rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have military bases in South Sudan," Spokesman of the Ministry Abu Bakr Al-Seddiq Al-Amin said in a press conference here. "Such reports undoubtedly evidence to the complaints made by Sudan for a long time; they represent an international testimony that is balanced and unbiased," Al-Amin noted. He was commenting on the report issued on Sunday by the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan. "For a long time Khartoum has been urging Juba to meet its obligations under the signed peace agreements and stop harboring and disengage itself from the rebels who launch attacks on Sudan from South Sudan but to no avail," he said. Al-Amin added that the report verified that JEM, a rebel movement in Darfur, west Sudan, has a 800-strong militant base in South Sudan and has 107 mm missile batteries. By its resolution 1591 (2005), the UN Security Council broadened the scope of the arms embargo (on all non-governmental entities and individuals, including the Janjaweed, operating in the states of Northern Darfur, Southern Darfur and Western Darfur in the Sudan, with immediate effect) to include all the parties to the N'Djamena Ceasefire Agreement and any other belligerents in the states of Northern Darfur, Southern Darfur and Western Darfur. By the same resolution, the Council established a Committee to monitor the implementation of the arms embargo and the two additional measures imposed by the resolution, namely, a travel ban and an assets freeze on those individuals designated by the Committee on the basis of the criteria contained in the resolution. The travel ban and the assets freeze entered into effect on 29 April 2005.